Page:The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report).pdf/40

 below that level. The total costs shown for the week, for this reason, are also little below the average. On the other hand, the receipts shown for the week are somewhat above average. To the extent of perhaps 5 per cent., this is due to insufficient allowance for outpayments, rebates and other adjustments in the alculation of the actual earnings for each individual consignment. The balance is attributable to the particular composition of the traffic during the test week.

It is inevitable that there is variation in the component traffics as between one period and another, and seasonal fluctuation, which affects some of the most important traffics, is not the least of the causes. Whilst the results shown in the Tables thus appear a little more favourable than the figures for the full year (which also include some receipts and costs from relatively small sources not included in the test), they are, nevertheless, sufficiently representative to constitute a most informative analysis of the traffic in this group.

One of the main subdivisions in the Tables is based upon terminal conditions, and this brings out very clearly the gross unprofitability of most station traffics and the relatively favourable nature of siding-to-siding movement. Thus:—

Combination of terminal conditions. (Flow in either direction)

.. Road-Road Road-Station. . Road-Dock .. Road-Siding. . Station-Station Station-Dock. . Dock-Dock .. Station-Siding. . Siding-Dock. . Siding-Siding ..

..

l '

Tons

Per

cent.

I

Receipts

Per cent.

Direct costs

Per cent.

Margin

E

26,800 17,600 25,400 111,500 30,200 29,600 5,400 246,600 256,300 946,000

- 68,800 -

27,300 30,300 76,100 25,500 - 7,500 5,600 10,100 - 10,400 +240,300

One obvious feature is that any traffic which is road collected or delivered by the railways is carried at a heavy loss relative to direct costs. The high cost of collecting or delivering by road, plus the cost of hand transfer of freight between road and rail vehicles, makes it impossible to attract traffic at economic prices. As a result, the railways get practically none of the better loading traffic in this way, but are used for poor loading traffic which road hauliers would reject or carry only at very high prices. This view is confirmed by the very low wagon loads produced by this traffic, the average for road/road and road/station traffic being only 2·5 tons per wagon.

The railways' financial losses are much the same on traffic which passes through stations without road collection or delivery by the railways' own vehicles, because transfer and road movement is still necessary, and railway rates have to allow for this cost being borne by the customer. Consequently, as groups, station/station and station/dock traffics both show a loss relative to their direct costs, while station/siding traffics just about break even. Here, however, as in the case of other traffics, increases in wagon loading or in length